It’s no surprise that “This Old House” chose Wellington, Ohio as one of its “Best Old House Towns” in 2010. Wellington is a “quaint and quiet northern Ohio town” with a small population of people (4,700), but a large population of beautiful historic houses. The town features an impressive spectrum of Victorian era houses — including Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Folk Victorian, as well as Shingle Style, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman bungalows. In fact, the architecture of Wellington’s collection of old houses is “so diverse that many colleges conduct field trips here for their architecture majors.”

Right now, you can own one of the unique old houses that contributes to Wellington’s unique historical fabric (check out the owner’s blog about Wellington and the house here). This circa 1888 Italianate home, which is located at 600 North Main Street, is within walking distance of historic downtown Wellington and was part of the town’s historic home tour in 2012. The yellow Italianate house features a symmetrical facade, with a center sidewalk that leads to an impressive one-story porch with fancy scroll work and brackets, all of which project from an almost turret-like tower that projects well above the roof line. Under the porch, steps rise to arched, double-entrance doors. The house has obviously been renovated to offer the best of both worlds — historic ambiance and texture, with modern style and convenience. The photos reveal not only a sharp historic exterior, but also an even more impressive interior, where every room looks to have been smartly renovated and visually appealing. And at the new price of just $94,900 (!), it seems like a tremendous value. (More listing information below.)

The house was apparently built in 1888 by Sereno (S.D.) and Mary Bacon, who had previously owned a farm in the township since 1851. They are listed as owners of the lot when the valuation increased from $400 (1886) to $2,750 (1889), a sure sign of a house being built on the lot. And according to S.D. Bacon’s obituary in the Wellington Enterprise on 9/25/1901, the Bacons had lived on a farm “until 1890 when they moved to their present home in town.” The Bacons were featured in an illustration in The History of Lorain County (1879) which is currently on displayed in the kitchen (see below).

One of the current owners, Nicole Hayes, adds, “We have copies of a number of historical documents in addition to the images of the Bacons from the book, including some 19th-century artifacts found around the property, which are also on display in our kitchen. There is also a photo album showing our interior makeover of the property over several years.” In the picture below, you can see the old objects they’ve found, as well as a copy of the local newspaper article about Wellington’s “This Old House” designation in 2010. You can see their Italianate house pictured in the article (top, middle).

The statistics on the house demonstrate its roominess — 2,037 sqft of living space, with 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths. The interior of this historic house is beautiful, starting with the front entry, which features paired, arched, double doors with thick moldings and cool historic hardware (more pics below).

Just inside the front door, the spacious foyer overlooks a beautiful, sweeping staircase.

To the right of the foyer is a sunny and open eat-in kitchen with all the modern updates. Off the kitchen are a full bath and a convenient first floor laundry room.

The library/dining room has a marble fireplace and handcrafted book shelves.

The attached living room, with the original hardwood floors has a bay window.

Upstairs, a large landing leads to four bedrooms and full bath.

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When I asked about the town of Wellington and its collection of historic houses, the owner, Nicole, told me that, “There was a lot of money in this town in the late 1800s; it was known as the “cheese capitol of the world,” if you can believe it.” I looked into it, and sure enough, cheese was a big deal in Wellington during the 1800s. “This Old House” reported: “For much of its history it was known for one thing: cheese. In 1880 there were more than 40 cheese factories in the area, and that’s precisely when this town’s population more than doubled. The town pays homage to its “cheesy” history each summer during the beloved Cheese Heritage Festival.According to the “This Old House” article, “Wellington is known as a perfect get-away-from-it-all small town where people enjoy a peaceful rural life with many festivals and other activities, including the annual Lorain County Fair, one of the largest in the state. The town offers small-town living with zero pretentiousness at bargain-basement prices. Wellington is just 50 miles from Cleveland and 15 minutes from Oberlin, Ohio, home to Oberlin College and its world famous Conservatory of Music. A farmer’s market is starting up this summer, so foodies will have plenty of locally sourced ingredients to choose from.”

There is much more information available about the house for sale at 600 N. Main Street, including the Trulia page here, and you can visit the Realtor’s page here. I am also dropping in lots more pics of the house below. The owner told me that lots of improvements have been made over the last 10 years, including exterior and interior painting of the home, new sewer lines and basement sump, insulated attic and all pipes and an energy saving tankless water heater. If you’re in the Cleveland area, it sounds like it’s worth a look!

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For more information or to tour the home, the listing Realtor is Mike Schrull of Russell Real Estate, who can be reached at 440-669-5343. For the owner’s blog about Wellington and the house, click here.

1) The house is still on the market, but now priced at $109,900. The real estate market, particularly for older homes, has not yet recovered in Wellington. If you want an historic house for very little money, this is the town for you.

2) I have continued to research the house since this was posted, and now know that it is even older than we previously thought. It was built in 1876 by a man named Noah Huckins. I’ve started a blog on the town’s history (and the house) which can be found at http://www.19thcenturywellington.wordpress.com if you want to learn more.

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